TRIVANDRUM, India, 25 June 2006 — The government department for overseas workers will get five million rupees for preparing a comprehensive database on Kerala workers in the Gulf. Presenting the revised budget for 2006-07 in the state assembly, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the survey would be extended to other countries in the second phase. The budget proposes an infrastructure development company in which investments from expatriate workers will be sought. “We will float a limited company on the lines of the Cochin airport to raise capital for building much-needed infrastructure,” the minister said.
Haj Committee Reconstituted
Haj Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty has reconstituted the Kerala Haj Committee with Kerala Auqaf Board Chairman Syed Omer Ali Shihab Thangal, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) lawmaker T.K. Hamza, CPI-M legislator P.T.A. Raheem, IUML legislator Mohammed Unni Haji, Malappuram district council member Sheikh Mohammed, N.P. Kunhi Moideen, S.V. Rahmathullah, A.K. Abdul Hameed, Kadakkal Abdul Azeez, M. Abdussalam, Muzammil Haji, K.M. Mohammed Kasim Koya, C.P. Kunhumohammed, A.V. Abdurraheem P.A. Uwaiz Haji and Rachana Shah, the chief district administrator of Calicut, as members.
CIAL Shares for a Song
The profit-making Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) is offering 1:1 rights issue with the face value of 10 rupees though the unlisted shares fetch up to 400 rupees in private trading. Industry sources say the money for financing the entire 35-billion-rupee expansion and diversification projects over the next five years could have been raised from the rights alone if they were sold with reasonable premiums. The issue, part of doubling the paid-up capital to four billion rupees, opened May 2 and was to close May 31. But the closing date was extended by a month following a request by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan for more time.
